How to Clear Text Formatting When You Copy/Paste Something

Apple magic keyboard 1

Here’s a quick, handy tip that I learned last night from The Mac Observer’s Bryan Chaffin. It’s a way to clear text formatting when you copy and paste text between applications.

Clear Formatting From Clipboard

Instead of fiddling with a “clear formatting” GUI button (if your app has that) or pasting first to a plain text document and then to your intended destination, press Shift + Option + Command (⌘) + V, as opposed to regular paste which is Command (⌘) + V.  Check out some of the best ways to copy and paste on a Mac.

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This works on both the Mac and iPad. And that’s it!

Discussion

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  1. poanda Subscriber 3 years ago

    This is wrong, it doesn’t work for me on newest macOS.

    Reply
    1. Jeff Butts 3 years ago

      Thanks for letting us know. We will test and see about updating the article. It is 2 years old, after all.

      Reply
  2. Macsee Subscriber 5 years ago

    Nice. Thanks. I also use CopyPaste Pro, which is awesome.
    https://plumamazing.com/product/copypaste-pro-for-mac

    Reply